Allegations are also there that the employers often deduct salaries of the workers on various grounds that were never mentioned in the job contracts.

The employers also force the workers to work for longer hours and do not provide enough food, accommodation and other facilities, which they are supposed to provide.

The Daily Star recently obtained documents of at least one company, which is exploiting the workers in various ways.

The Malaysian outsourcing company, Outline Square (M) SDN BHD, which hired 100 Bangladeshi workers through a Bangladeshi recruiting agency Link Up International (Ltd), is one of such companies that is paying a worker only 50 to 150 Malaysian Ringgit a month whereas the salary written in the job contract is over 900 Ringgit.

According to a recent Malaysian rule, the outsourcing companies can hire workers from Bangladesh through recruiting agencies here.

The outsourcing companies are responsible for the workers' salaries, lodging, transport, medical expenses and insurance.

The exploited workers recently made an appeal to the Bangladesh High Commission in Kuala Lumpur with no effect until now.

In their complaints, the workers alleged that according to the job contract forms signed in Bangladesh, their daily basic salary was 18.50 Ringgit but on arrival in Malaysia, they had to sign a new job contract form, which fixed the daily basic salary at 15 Ringgit.

They said the outsourcing company subtracts 222 Ringgit in the name of permit deduction, 160 Ringgit for meal purposes and 7 Ringgit in the name of water, electricity and medical costs from each worker a month.

"For no reason, the authorities deduct money from our salaries. They even deduct as fine the price if a small part of a machine is destroyed," the workers complained adding the authorities do not give them any time for prayers, even on Fridays.

"If we protest, 'madam' (a factory high official) says they could not run the factory as per the Malaysian government's rule," read the letter.

It said the company neither provides any food nor accommodation though it deducts money from their salaries for meal purposes. The company is supposed to provide accommodation as per the job contract.

The 'madam' also forces them to work for 10 hours a day instead of eight hours, stated the letter signed by about one hundred workers urging "Please save us. Otherwise, we shall starve to death in Malaysia. Please come to our aid."

A source, who recently visited Malaysia and gathered information on the Bangladeshi workers, said about 50 percent workers are suffering from such exploitation as many of the employers are not well reputed.

Over 50,000 workers went to Malaysia since the manpower export began in August last year.

On the other hand, a human rights organisation in Malaysia recently gathered information that about 1,000 Bangladeshi workers were stuck in various places in West Malaysia, especially in Cameron Highland.

In an earlier letter to Bangladesh High Commission, the workers alleged that they were kept at different places in groups of 10 to 20 so that they could not communicate with any authorities for redress. "We were even beaten up if we did not want to go to the hill caves," it noted.

An official of the human rights organisation however said some Bangladeshi recruiting agencies contacted some of the unemployed workers very recently and managed short-term jobs for them.

As per the new Malaysian rules, once the employers or the outsourcing companies get home ministry approvals for hiring workers from Bangladesh, the Bangladesh High Commission is supposed to attach the approvals only after inspecting the workplaces.

The Bangladesh High Commission must have made mistakes in inspecting the workplaces for which the outsourcing companies got the scope to cheat the workers, an official of the human rights organisation told The Daily Star.

When contacted, Link-up International Ltd Managing Director Khaja Ahmedur Rahman said he knew nothing about such allegations. "If the allegations are true, the Malaysian government will take actions," he said.

Abdul Matin Chowdhury, secretary to the ministry of expatriates' welfare and overseas employment, said there is no scope for such abuses under the present arrangement of manpower recruiting in Malaysia.

"If the allegations are found true, Bangladesh High Commission and Malaysian government will certainly take action," he said.